Glamour's February Cover Star, Shakira, Tells Us: "I'm Not on Earth Just to Shake It and Shake It Endlessly"

She's a mother and mogul—and full of shockingly good career advice. With hit songs in more than 55 countries—and a seat next to Adam Levine on The Voice—what's left for Shakira to do? Jason Sheeler finds out.

Walking into Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant in Los Angeles, I can spot Shakira just by her mane of hair. Today those lush and much-attended-to curls aren’t spilling over the back of a red and hydraulically lifted chair on an NBC soundstage. But her seat is a throne all the same: ornate wood, gold leather, and perched in the restaurant’s window, overlooking the city she calls home while filming The Voice. She is undoubtedly music royalty.

The 37-year-old Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll has sold more than 50 million albums all over the world and racked up a combined 10 Latin and American Grammys. (“Hips Don’t Lie,” by the way, is worldwide the biggest-selling single of the twenty-first century. True story.) Along the way Shakira has picked up a Spanish soccer star (boyfriend Gerard Piqué, father of her baby, Milan); a whole new fan base, thanks to her seat on the hugely successful singing competition show; and a cause: providing education to children living in poverty through her Fundación Pies Descalzos/The Barefoot Foundation. “I’m a perennial student myself,” she says modestly. And, hey—lest you be wary of celebrities with charities, Shakira’s doing a lot more than just writing a check (although she did write a $10 million one to start a fund for educational centers throughout Latin America). Ask Bono: “When she gets going on the subject of child poverty,” U2’s philanthropic front man has said, “she can be pretty scary.” But on this afternoon Shakira’s not baring any fangs. In fact, when I sit down and make a joke about hoping her chair would spin around, she ups the game. She pulls her chair closer to mine. Welcome to Team Shakira.

Here are a few of my favorite moments from her cover story below; to read the full story, pick up a copy of the February issue of Glamour on newsstands starting January 14, or download the digital edition now at glamour.com/app.

Shakira on her duet with Rihanna “[W]orking with her was utopia. She’s the sexiest woman on the planet. And at the end of the day, we’re both just basically Caribbean girls. The chemistry was so good and so real. She taught me dance moves. She was a sweet teacher.”

Working with fellow The Voice judge Adam Levine and other men in the industry “Dealing with boys at work and being the only girl can be challenging. I have my insecurities, but I’ve learned I have to be a good sport. I have to be able to take certain jokes and not take them personally. There are jokes made almost every second of the day. I had to develop a tough hide. You know, the music industry is dominated by guys. I work with men 98 percent of the time—producers, arrangers, musicians, engineers.”

Her success “Success happened little by little for me. I tasted the flavor of fame in small doses: I started at 10 years old when I won a music contest; I was performing at birthday parties, company meetings. I met with a record executive when I was 13 and sang ‘Material Girl’ to a cassette-tape boom box. I’ve shaken hands at every radio station, from Honduras to Ryan Seacrest’s. One day [I realized I was famous] enough. But here’s the thing: I’m still hungry. But I’m not hungry for fame—just the need to prove to myself that I can still do this.”

Her vision for her life “I feel like I’m not on earth just to shake it and shake it endlessly, you know?”

Whether she has gotten any grief from Latin fans about her blond hair or being too thin “At the beginning. But my man, Gerard, prefers meat over bone. He doesn’t like too skinny. [Laughs.] That takes pressure off. I already have a lot to worry about. This month I’m not exercising because I have an album to finish and I have a baby. And I like these pastries in front of me.”

Whether the injustice she saw growing up planted the seed for her education charity “Being raised in a developing country opened my eyes to so much I cannot tolerate. In Colombia, education is sometimes considered a luxury, not a human right. And it’s not a priority in the agendas of many leaders. I feel a real sense of duty to use the voice and the platform I’ve been afforded by my fame to speak out for those whose voices don’t get a chance to be heard. [The Barefoot Foundation] provides education to vulnerable kids who live in extreme poverty. We’ve built six schools in Colombia and do work in South Africa and Haiti. We teach 5,000 students.”